Pierce County Voter Pamphlets Delayed for Multiple Communities

Ballots for the Aug. 6, 2024, Primary Election began arriving in Key Peninsula mailboxes as scheduled between July 19 and July 23. However, the all-important voter pamphlets that help inform voters’ understanding of the issues and the candidates running for office were nowhere in sight.

Pierce County Auditor Linda Farmer issued a newsflash on the county website and posted on social media after discovering the vendor error that caused the problem affecting many communities countywide, including the Key Peninsula.

Farmer told KP News her office has a long-term relationship with the printer and said, “This particular mistake has never happened before. It’s out of character for something as big as this to happen.”

Pamphlets will be mailed to registered voters in affected areas July 29. In the meantime, official voter pamphlets are available at libraries throughout the county and online.

“I do a morning call with the Secretary of State’s office every day during the election,” she said. “Some counties haven’t gotten their ballots, so there are issues all over the state. I am so incredibly glad that we are not one of them experiencing issues with ballots.”

This year marks the 30th anniversary of voter pamphlet publication in Pierce County. “It’s a mainstay, so I understand why people are upset about not having it in the mailboxes,” she said.

“There is a pattern in Pierce County where about half the electorate vote early and the other half votes on Election Day. One thing I like to tell people is that if they don’t have their ballot in our office by Tuesday morning, it won’t be included in the vote count on election night. We will be processing everything that we have already picked up, and we’ll be processing those ballots the day after the election. If you want to know that your vote is included in the count reported on Tuesday night, you need to get it in a little bit earlier.”

To read the Voters’ Pamphlet online, go to www.piercecountywa.gov.